


Blue Skies

by NEStar



Category: Alice (2009)
Genre: Drabble, Drabble Collection, Duchess is awesome, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NEStar/pseuds/NEStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of Duchess centered drabbles written for the summer round at day_by_drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pre-Series

**Prompt #10 _Sonnet XVIII_ by William Shakespeare **

Hope has only flashes of memory about her mother: the gold of the wrap she wore to fancy dinners; her smile – white teeth framed by red lips; the sent of peppermint at her neck when she snuggled Hope close.

 

But the most vivid memory that she attached to her mother wasn't made until after her mother died.

 

Every year she would go with her father to the cemetery and while she placed red and yellow flowers against the headstone he father would recite.

 

_And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date:  
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,_

 

**Prompt #7 _Summertime_ by George Gershwin**

_One of these mornings  
You're going to rise up singing_

_Then you'll spread your wings  
And you'll take to the sky_

 

The singers voice was hunted and smoky and made her want to cry – the one thing that she daren't even think of when standing in the presence of the Royal court.

 

_But till that morning_

_There's a'nothing can harm you_

 

Weakness was the worst thing one could display. She had learned that early on. She had also learned that she couldn't place her trust in any of the other courtiers.

_  
With daddy and mamma standing by_

 

She was sitting in a room with dozens of other people, the man she was to marry at her side, and she had never felt so alone. 


	2. Summer Lovin' Series

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these tie in to my longer story, "Finding Hope".

**Prompt #5 Sand castle**

**(Hope at 14, Jack at 15)**

It was a magnificent sight – the ocean. The rough splash of waves, the cry of gulls, the tang of salt in the air. Nothing in her life had prepared her for this and she quickly turned around to share her excitement with her father.

 

But her father wasn't here. No, he was dead and she was living under the protection of the Queen. She sank to her knees and grabbed a fist full of sand; anything to focus on and stop the tears from coming.

 

“Are you going to build a sandcastle?” 

 

She looked up to see Jack, “What's that?”

 

Jack chuckle and settled himself next to her, “Here,” he scooped sand into a large pile, “Let me help you.”

 

 

**Prompt #8 Kissing under water (Photo)**

**(Hope at 20, Jack at 21)**

 Of the six years she had been coming on retreat with the royal court this was the best summer yet. 

 

She and Jack had spent the days splashing in the clear water and the nights on the beach warmed by a bonfire. This was the first year that she let her skin take on a glow, it was also the first year Jack would pull her under the water just so he could kiss her.

 

**Prompt #32 A Heart drawn in the sand and being washed away by the tide (photo)**

**(Hope at 23, Jack at 24 - the summer right before the mini)**

Picking up a stick that had been washed ashore, Hope thought of sadly of her dashed dreams.

 

She had hoped that the summer retreat would be a chance for Jack and she to reconnect (they had some of their best time here after all) but two days before the trip Jack announced to that he would not be joining the family this year, that he had been working with the Walrus on an experiment and couldn't leave in the middle of it, so she was left to walk along the beach by herself.

 

With a sigh she threw the stick out into the water and made her way back to the lodge, never stopping to look back as the heart she had drawn was slowly washed away by the waves.

 

 

**Prompt #11 Run down building with a pool (Photo)**

**(Hope at 24, Jack at 25 - one year after the mini)**

She didn't want to come to the summit; the children needed her and surely the Ealdorman of the Council could speak with more knowledge on troubles of Didam and her people.

 

But the Council insisted that she been the one to represent them, so she packed her court cloths and the make-up that had been untouched for a year and headed to the lowlands and the Royal Lodge.

 

The sight that greeted her on her arrive took her breath away. 

 

True, there were more important things to deal with in these troubled times then the upkeep of the Royal vacation home but this...

 

Memories flooded over her: Jack teaching her how to swim, Jack sitting on a lounger listening to her read aloud, Jack pulling her underwater to steal a kiss.

 

The best days of her life had been at this pool side and now it was covered in weeds.


	3. The Five Senses Series

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these tie into my longer story, "Finding Hope".

**Scent**

**Prompt #14 Guy mowing grass (Photo)**

There was, she had decided, no smell more pleasant then that of freshly cut grass. But not just any grass – it had to be mountain grass, watered with rain that had fallen from it's cloud only a second before and dried with strong crisp winds the blew straight from heaven – and not just cut any way – it had to be cut by an old man using a push powered mower who sang while he walked back and forth.

 

Hope knew there were many things that she should be doing, but she still gladly took the moment to smell the grass.

 

 

**Touch**

**Prompt #15 meadow**

The longer she simply lay there and let herself drift, the more the soft whisper of long grass brushing against one another became a kind of music. There were no papers to be read, no questions to be answered, there was only the grass that tickled her arms and hands.

 

 

**Sight**

**Prompt #18 sweat**

She knew that she had sweated before in her life – summer days spent outside in the sun at the Royal lodge or winter nights spent in bed with Jack sprang to mind – but never before had she seen a drop of sweat actually roll down her skin. She studied it for a moment before wiping the back of her arm on her apron and continuing on stirring the oatmeal for the children's breakfast.

 

 

**Taste**

**Prompt #21 storm**

All day the heat had been oppressive causing her clothes and hair to stick to her skin as she went about the daily tasks, even the children had been reluctant to move from the shade, but as the sky turned pink the whole world fell silent and not a thing moved.

 

As the darkness took hold a breeze came whipping along, causing the hair on her arm to stand on end and leaving the taste of lightning in her mouth.

 

 

**Hearing**

**Prompt #22 _Bed in Summer_ by Robert Louis Stevenson**

It was nothing more then a silly poem, a little ditty to help the youngest children understand why they couldn't play even though the sun was still out, but the sound of laughter mingled with the childish chanting of that verse was the sweetest sound she could ever image hearing.

 


	4. Post-Series

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most of these tie into my longer story,"Finding Hope:.

**Prompt #3 shelter**

The first night after the casino fell was clear and warm so everyone slept out in the open, under the stars, but the sky the next morning made the need for tents a priority – right behind food and latrines.

 

Hope had spent that night laying next to Jack, safe and warm in his arms, but in the morning he was pulled away to answer a dozen different questions and by the time evening fell Hope still hadn't seen him.

 

One of the diamond girls came up to her, “We've claimed a camp space, come stay with us, Hope?”

 

The first night she had been sheltered by Jack's strong arms around her, but the second night she was sheltered by the love of her people.

 

 

**Prompt #6 wildfire**

She had always thought that the first crises she would have to deal with as the true Duchess of Didem would some how be related to the civil unrest that was spreading across the kingdom in the wake of the Queen's overthrow. A gang of thugs looking for food or some wild tea-head looking for just one more fix.

 

A wildfire had never even crossed her mind.

 

She was in her office reading the minutes from the last counsel meeting when a stinging scent reached her. A moment later the cry of “Fire” sent her racing down the stairs.

 

 

**Prompt #2 Fireworks (Photo)**

Hope made her way through the groups of travelers who had come to Cranton from the outlaying villages of Diadem. Earlier today she had to put on her fancy clothes and play the Duchess, but now she was wearing a simple dress and with her hair covered there was no one who could tell her from any other shepherdess. 

 

As the sky grew dusky a hush fell over the crowds. Then the first rocket was shot off and the sky exploded with color.

 

The crowd began to cry out “Long live the King!” but she simply whispered “Happy birthday, Jack.” 

 

 

**Prompt #4 "If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance." (Bern Williams)**

She had seen the couples plotting to get caught under the mistletoe at Christmas, and of course she had seen the flurry of sweetheart gifts at Valentines Day – but she had preparation for those days.

 

This was only June.

 

She had woken up early and had spent the day working at the school, talking with counsel members about clean up plans for the fire and a slew of dozen other things that only she could handle.

 

Then finally she had come out to the back porch with a mug of tea to relax before bed and that's when she saw the couple walking by the river, holding hands and stealing kisses.

 

She missed Jack everyday but it wasn't until June that she cried over him. 

 

**Prompt #1 “Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin**

The sky had been a stormy slate blue when she had arrived in Craton; the fall winds chasing clouds across the sky, causing shadows to role over the land just as the shadow of the Queen moved over the people.

 

What brief hours of light the winter sun brought showed a sky of blue so pale it faded into the snow and sent her back into the house seeking the warmth of the hearth and the new family she had collected. 

 

Spring had brought a sky dotted with fluffy clouds that mirrored the new lambs that dotted the hilltops and a smile to townsfolk as they heard the news that peace was – slowly – returning to Wonderland.

 

Then this morning she had woken up to a sky that was dressed in the most vibrant bright blue; a blue she had only even seen before in Jack's eyes back in the days when he was first courting her. 

 

The memory came swiftly: her running through the garden, Jack grabbing her hand and pulling her under the shade of a tree, a hungry kiss that ended much too quickly.

 

Yes, summer was here, Jack was King, and the world was full of promise.

 

 

**Prompt # 31 _Danny Boy_ by Frederic Weatherly**

These last two weeks had killed her. How could he look at her, study her, and be fooled by simple clothing and scarf wrapped around her hair when all she had needed was a mere moment to confirm that, no, she wasn't dreaming, it really was Jack.

 

Even up to the last second – even as he sat on his horse and waved – she had been sure he would notice, would look at her out of the corner of his eye and smirk like he had so many times during a long court function.

 

And now he was gone and she had run to the shelter of the old willow tree behind the hall. With her arms cling to the trunk for support she sobbed out all of her anger and frustration and longing. For nine years she had loved Jack Heart and now he hadn't even recognized her.

 

The words to an old shepherds songs came to her, “The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying 'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.” It was true, Jack had gone and taken summer with him and she was left to bide herself with the dying flowers.

 


End file.
